The popularity of Middle Egyptian literature in later centuries is well demonstrated by the large number of manuscripts surviving from the New Kingdom. By the
Ramesside period Middle Egyptian literary works had come to be regarded as a kind of classical canon (Baines 1996a), distinct from contemporary literature which was now written in Late Egyptian, a considerably later stage of the language which was much closer to the vernacular. Some Middle Egyptian texts were used as advanced scribal training exercises in the New Kingdom, and the ostraca on which these exercises were inscribed account for a large proportion of surviving manuscripts. Although some of these scribes clearly followed the texts they were copying out, others seem to have had a shakier grasp (Parkinson 2009: 187-207).
Some Middle Egyptian literary texts are much better attested in the New Kingdom than others, and it is likely that this is because the New Kingdom scribal curriculum, insofar as it can be deduced from the village of Deir el-Medina, avoided certain texts. For example, the Dialogue of a Man with his Soul and the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant are not attested in any New Kingdom manuscripts. While it is possible that the dialogue had dropped out of circulation by this period, the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant is probably alluded to in a Ramesside composition from Deir el-Medina, suggesting that it was still known at this time (Morenz 1998).
Some Middle Egyptian texts continued to be read after the New Kingdom: the latest undisputed manuscripts date to the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty and probably come from a temple library at Elephantine (Quack 2003). This context may suggest that, by this date at least, reading Middle Egyptian literature was increasingly a culturally rarefied activity. It is possible that Middle Egyptian literature was being read later still, though the evidence is inconclusive (Jasnow 1999).
FURTHER READING
Anthologies of Middle Kingdom texts in translation: Parkinson 1997 presents the well-preserved literary works with extensive interpretative notes, while Quirke 2004 provides translations of all texts (including the very fragmentary ones) which might possibly be literary. Lichtheim 1973, Parkinson 1991, and Simpson 2003 provide a wider selection of texts from the period, including some of those on the margins of literature. A less literal, but more lyrical, approach to translating Egyptian literature is taken by Foster (2002). A wide range of papyri from the Middle Kingdom pyramid town of Lahun, both literary and non-literary, are published and translated by Collier and Quirke (2002, 2004, and 2006).
Translations of Egyptian texts also appear in general Near Eastern anthologies such as Pritchard 1969 (abbreviated ANET); Kaiser 1982-97 and Janowski and Wilhelm 2004-(abbreviated TUAT); and Hallo and Younger 1997-2002. More specialist anthologies can also be found for wisdom literature (Brunner 1988), biographies (Lichtheim 1988), hymns and prayers (Assmann 1999a), the Coffin Texts (Faulkner 1973, 1978a-b), and letters (Wente 1990). Major German anthologies include Erman 1923, Brunner-Traut 1985 and Hornung 1990b, and for French there is Lefebvre 1949 and Lalouette 1984-7.
A wide variety of aspects of Middle Kingdom literary culture are studied in depth in Parkinson 2002 and 2009, and both books provide extensive bibliographies on the subject.
Other studies encompassing Middle Egyptian literature include Morenz 1996, Moers 2001, and Baines 2007. Several important collections of papers on Egyptian literature have been published, including Loprieno 1996, Assmann and Blumenthal 1999, Moers 1999, and Burkard et al. 2004. Burkard and Thissen 2003 is a good German language introductory volume, designed for undergraduate students.
World History
